Transcript

2.
Palliative Care vs. Hospice Care
• Our goal this morning is to cover the wide areas
of overlap and similarities between the two
disciplines, and to also make the differences
between the two clearer for you.
• VNA is one of the regular hospice providers at
Cross Keys Village, and in the greater community.
• A small wing of the Health Care Center at Cross
Keys Village is usually being used by palliative and
hospice patients.

3.
Palliative Care vs. Hospice Care
• The core of Palliative care and Hospice care are
the same: to provide comfort and pain/symptom
management and optimize quality of life.
• Hospice patients receive Palliative care, but not
every Palliative care patient will enter Hospice.
• The goals of Palliative care and Hospice care are
different, and depend on what the patient wants
to accomplish.

4.
What is Palliative Care?
• Palliative care improves the quality of life for
patients with serious illnesses by relieving
symptoms, pain and stress.
• Palliative care can happen at any point during
a patient's illness.
• Often accompanies other kinds of treatment.

5.
What is Hospice Care?
• Hospice is a care program that provides
assistance to those individuals who have an
incurable disease and have chosen not to
pursue any further aggressive treatment.
• Hospice considers the patient and
family/caregivers as one unit of care –
provides support for all.
• Hospice care is provided wherever a patient
calls “home.”

6.
Why Palliative Care?
• Aggressive measures for control of pain and
other distressing symptoms
• Better quality and often longer life, with
neither quality or quantity achieved at the
other’s expense
• More goal centered
• Interdisciplinary team of
caregivers, participating
in holistic care of patient and family

7.
Why Hospice Care?
• Provides physical, emotional and spiritual
support
to individuals at end of life
• Helps patients remain in their home
• Offers pain and symptom management
• Helps individuals live the best that they can
with what they have been given
• Focuses on quality of life more than quantity

8.
Who is eligible for Palliative Care?
• Patients with life-limiting diseases who may
still be seeking curative treatment
• Sufferers of chronic conditions which require
aggressive pain management and symptom
management
• May not have a terminal prognosis

9.
Who is eligible for Hospice Care?
• An individual who has a life expectancy of six
months or less if the terminal illness runs its
normal course, as determined by a physician,
and…
• …is no longer seeking aggressive treatment

10.
Palliative Care Payment
• Palliative care is paid like any other medical
care, via insurance or Medicare.
• The Palliative care physician is usually a
general practitioner or a geriatrician with
additional certifications.

11.
Hospice Care Payment
• Medicare and Medical Assistance
– Hospice care is paid per diem (paid a set amount
per day, varies from county to county)
• Private insurances
– Coverage varies, but most offer a hospice benefit

12.
What Hospice Must Provide
• As part of per diem payment, hospice is responsible
for all items which are related to the palliation and
management of the terminal illness and related
conditions, including:
– Medications – Treatments
– Catheter/wound supplies – Blood work
– Procedures – Therapy
– Hospitalization
– Durable medical equipment (DME)
– Ambulance transport, as needed

13.
Levels of Hospice Care
• Routine Home Care
– Regular visits made by Hospice team members;
provided in the home setting
• Continuous Care (billed hourly)
– For patient symptom management only – cannot
be used for caregiver breakdown
– 51% of the service must be RN/LPN level
– Social work/counselor does not count towards the
time

14.
Levels of Hospice Care, cont.
• Respite
– For caregiver relief
– A five-day stay at a contracted facility
• General Inpatient
– Admission to a hospital or inpatient Hospice unit
for symptoms that cannot managed at home
– Short stay to get patient controlled and home
– An actively dying patient does not automatically
qualify for this level

16.
About VNA Hospice
• Program started in 1980; one of the oldest
in the area
• Serves southwestern York County and all of
Adams County
• Non-profit, community-based
• Volunteer Board of Directors
• Will accept any patient, regardless of their ability
to pay or the severity of their medical need
• Staff live within the community they serve;
allows for faster response time when it matters
most